Multiple-brush selector.



A. P. DIXON. MULTIPLE BRUSH SELECTOR. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 29,.1912.

1 123,?Q$ v Patented Jan.5,1915,

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MULTIPLE BRUSH SELECTOR.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 29, 1912.

1,123,706. Patented Jan.5,1915.

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IIPIXON, {3F NEWARK, NEVT JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO WESTERN ELECTRIC COMI- EANY, OF NEWYORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

MULTIPLE-BRUSH SELECTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

Application filed November 23, 1912. Serial No. 734,085.

TouZZ whom it may concern "as the description of the invention progresses.

This invention relates to a switching apparatus for use in automatic or semi-auto- Inatic exchange systems, and more particularly to those switches in which electromag netically controlled switching devices are employed and is adapted for use as a selector for making connection to idle trunk lines, or a connector for extending the connection to a called subscribers line. means of this invention a switch is provided by which a large number of lines may be accurately and rapidly served and whereby any line may be reached through one of aplurality of multiply connected brushes on a common operating shaft or rod, each brush-having access to a particular group of lines. For this purpose there is provided a panel-board upon which a plurality of vertical rows of sets of stationary terminals are mounted, each row being divided into sections and each section having a set of co-- operating normally inactive movable brushes individual thereto, all the corresponding brushes of each row being connected in multiple. These rows of terminals may he mul tiplied horizontally across the panel to be access al to as many individual switching nieciiai. is as may be required to handle the greatest number of simultaneous calls.

. Each set of brushes is carried by a separate brush carrier mounted on a longitudinally movable operating shaft common to the entire group of brush sets corresponding to the stationary terminals of a single row. in accordance with this invention the selection of the stationary terminals of any desired line is effected by first causing the set of movable brushes having access to the section containing the desired terminal to be" come active, and then causingthe said set to traverse the terminals in such section until the desired terminals are reached. In

the embodiment of the invention disclosed herein, this is accomplished by mounting all the brush carriers so they will normally loosely engage the common operating shaft and providing each carrier with means whereby it may be temporarily seized by said shaft to move therewith. This brush seizing isaccomplished by rotating the brush selecting device, which device may be either the main operating shaft as shown in Fig. 1, or an auxiliary brush selecting shaft parallel thereto as shown in Fig. 6. Means are also provided to move said shaft longitudinally to cause the selected brush to traverse the stationary terminals in its respective section. The operating shaft may be moved longitudinally by frictional'engagement with a constantly rotatingmember, and may be restored to normal by gravityor power in any well known manner. For a more detailed description of the invention reference is now made to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a unitary mechanism with parts broken away. Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view on the line 22, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a cross the line 3-3, Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is a diagrammatic view showing the angular relation of the several lugs on the operating shaft to their respective carrier lifting fingers. Fig.

sectional view on operating carrier lifting finger, and also showing the starwheel and the switch springs actuated thereby. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a modified form of my device; Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view on the line 7-7, Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view on the line 8 -8, Fig. 6; Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a portion of the device showing more clearly the means for securing the brush carriers to the shaft; Fig. 10'-is a diagrannnatic view showing the relative angular arrangement of the cam notches in the several brush selecting disks; Fig. 11 is a,

perspective view of the lower end of the auxiliary shaft showing more clearly the operating means therefor.

The switch apparatusherein disclosed is designed to serve 500 lines, the terminals being divided into sections of 100 each and being duplicated on the opposite side of the panel so as to be accessible to brushes on each side thereof as shown in Fig. It is obvious, however, that the capacity of this switch may be increased either by providing a greater number of sections, and, consequently, a greater number of brushes, or in arranging more stationary terminals in each section. i

In order to avoid needless duplication of parts and to more clearly illustrate the part of the apparatus claiinedas my invention, only one switching device is illustrated and only "a few of the stationary terminals are shown on the drawing. It, however, is

to be understood that the stationary terriers 9,.each brush carrier having rigidly but insulatively secured thereto the set of brushes 1, z, 3 and 4 in any desiredfmanner.

Each brush carries a pair of wipers 10--l 1..

engaging opposite sides of the rods 1213 ll respectively whereby the brushes are operatively connected to the telephone circuits. Mounted upon the operating shaft, one for each brush, are a series of flanges 15, each having thereon a projecting lug 16. lIhe lugs of the several flanges are spirally arranged, that is, the lugs are normally remo\ed from their operative positions by pf'ogressively increasing angular distances.

pon each brush carrier is an upwardly and inwardly projecting carrier lifting finger 18 which, when its respective lug 16 is positioned thereunder and the shaft moved longitudinally, is adapted to cause movement of the brush carrier and, therefore, of the corresponding brushes.

The brush. selection in the form shown in Fig. 'l is accomplished by rotating the brush shaft to position one of the lugs 16 under its cooperating finger 18. This rotation is effected means of the drive disk 19 mounted "on the constantly rotating shaft 20, which upon 'energizationof the clutch magnet '21 is drawn into engagement with a .the' friction disk 22 slidably but non-r0- prevent rotation of the disk22 on the shaft tatably mounted on the shaft 8. 'In order to 8 but to allow relative longitudinal move- :ment thereof, a key-way 23 is; formed in the shaft into which projects'the key or tongue 24 formed integral with the frietion disk 22. The amount of this selective rotation is measured by means of impulses sent back to setting mechanism (not shown) by means of the starwheel 30 and the co6pcrating contacts 31 and The starwheel the spring 31 to move outwardly into engagement with the spring it may be noted that I have provided eight points on the star-wheel and that the lugs 16 on the several flanges 15 have a cor-, responding angular arrangement; that is,

the angular distance which any lug is re moved from the next adjacentlug, eitherabove or below is if)". The springs 31 and 32 will, therefore, contact once for each time. a lug 16 is being brought into brush selecting position. The star points areso arranged that this will occur while the lugs are between positions and such contact will be broken Whenever a lag 16 is immediately underits coacting finger 18 at which time the roller 33 will lie in a depression between the star points and, if at this time the clutch 9 magnet 21- becomes deenergized, will act to retain the shaft in its brush selecting positlon. I have provided eight points on the starwheel as I have found that this allows the brush selecting positions -to be reached quickly with the leastvangular movement consistent with accuracy Means are provided for elevating the brush shaft at different speeds and also for returning it by power to its normal position. Each of these means comprises a constantly rotating drive pulley and an electromagnetically operated idler pulley corresponding thereto. As these several power means are substantially the same both in structure and general operation, only the low speed elevating device \vill'be described in detail and the differences of the others therefrom will be hereinafter pointed out.

The low speed device comprises a pulley 34 mountedon a constantly rotating shaft 35, and an electromagnetically' operating idler pulley 36 on the opposite side of the shaft. This pulley 36 is mounted on the upper end of the lever 37 which is pivotally secured to the frame member 38 and to the lever 39 by the pivot pin 40. A stop pin 41 is provided on the lever 39 to limit the relative movement of the two levers. A spring 42 is provided having one end secured to the lower end of the lever 37 and the other to a downwardly projecting lug 43 on the outer end of-the lever 39, t us tendin to retain the lever 37 in en agement wit the stop I pinel. On one si e of the lever 39 is an .46. Thus it will be seen that-upon the energization of the magnet 46 power will be transmitted through the lever 39, spring 42 and lever -37 to the idler pulley 36 to clamp the shaft between said idler pulley and the power pulley 34, and cause the shaft to be driven.

As the high speed drive mechanism and the return drive mechanism are, as previously stated, the same in operation and structure as the one just described, the same reference characters with the suflixes and respectively, will be applied to corresponding parts of these devices and the last previous paragraph will apply equally well to either device if read with the reference characters thus modified.-

The low speed drum 31 and the high speed drum 3% are arranged to run at the relative speeds of 1 to 10 and obviously so as to drive the shaft in the same direction. The return drive drum 34 carries the shaft in the reverse direction and is for the purpose of positively returning the shaft to its normal position and may be driven at any suitable speed.

To retain the shaft in its elevated position during conversation a pawl 47 is provided which co'ciperates with the ratchet teeth 48 on the shaft 8. The pawl is normally held in engagement with the ratchet teeth by the spring 49. It is not necessary that this retaining means be placed at the bottom of the shaft as it can be placed anywhere throughout its length equally as well. For the purpose of retracting the pawl 47 to allow the return to normal of the operating shaft at the termination of the conversation an electromagnet 50 is provided. On the retraction of the pawl 47 by the magnet 50 the shaft is released and is returned to normal by gravity or preferably by power as shown in Fig. 1, current being supplied to the clutch magnet 4.6 at this time. Upon the approach of the brush shaft to its lowermost or normal position, the brush 56 will. engage the contact plate 92 to complete a circuit through a sequence switch or other means wherebv the circuit for the return drive clutch magnet may be interrupted. This retu n dri e not only renders the return of the switch mechanism to norma'l 'at the end of the conversation more certain but also allows. this return to be accomplished more quietly and with less jar and wear of the apparatus. Meansare also actuated at this time to again energize the clutch ma net 21 to continue the rotation of the shaft ba'ckto its normal position. The applicat on of cur ent to these clutch magnets mav be controlled by a sequence switch,

rela s or in anv desi ed manner.

The application of current to the clutch magnet for the high speed drum which is provided to carry the brushes over terminals by groups of ten is controlled indirectly by impulses created by the interruption of the circuit extending through the plate 51, brush 52, brush supporting arm 53, supporting member 54 rigidly but insulatively secured to the shaft, brush supporting arm 55, brush 56 and the interrupter 57, by said interrupter. These pulsations are transmitted to the setting mechanism (not shown) which may act through a sequence switch, or any desired manner, of current to the clutch speed pulley or to cut it Current for the clutch speed drum which is provided to carry the brushes over the stationary terminals during units selection iscontrolled in the same manner with the exception thatth-e arm 58. brush 59 and interrupter 60 are substituted during units selection. Arms 53, 55and 58 are rigidly and conductively secured to the member 51 which in turn is rigidly but insulatively secured .to the shaft in any de-' sired manner. Y

In the modification shown in Fig. 6 many of the parts are identical in structure and function with those previously described and the description of these parts will not, therefore, be repeated. In this form as in the one just described, the brush shaft is provided with a flange 25 for each brush carrier and the brush carriers 26 are like the one previously described with the exceprelays to shift the supply magnet of the low olf altogether.

tion that the catch 61 is provided instead of the upwardly and inwardly extending integral finger. This catch is pivotally secured to the brush carrier by means of the pivot pin 62, and has at its upper end an inwardly extending member 63 and at its lower end a roller 64. The brush selection is governed by a series of disks 65 mounted on an auxiliary shaft or rod 66 rotatably mounted in. the frame parallel to the brush shaft. A cam notch 67 is formed in each disk 65. These notches are spirally arranged and in their normal position are arranged at progressively increasing angular distances from their cotiperating catch levers 61. By rotating the rod 66 the notch 67 in a disk 65 may be caused to overlie the roller 64 on the downwardly extend ng end of any catch member 61, thus allowing the catch to be d awn forward by the spring 68 to position the hook member 63 over its respective flange 25, in order to temporarily lock the brush set to the shaft. on account of the spiral arrangement of the notches 67 in the several disks. onlv one of-the notches can overlie the roller 64 of a catch member 61 at a time and therefore only one brush carrier can be locked in engagement with the brush shaft 8. The angular rotat on of the brush selecting rod 66 by means of which this semagnet of the low lection is accomplished is caused by the action of the pawl (59 on the ratchet wheel rigidly secured near the lower end of said rod. This pawl is carried at the lower end of alever 71 which is pivotally mounted at 724111Cl carries midway -of its length the armature 73 of the electromagnet 74. A spring 75 is provided for normally holding the armature in its retracted position. It will thus be seen that upon the energization of the magnet 74 the pawl 69 will be drawn forward to a position to engage the next adjacent tooth of the ratchet wheel 70, and upon the deenergization of the magnet and the retraction of the armature by the spring 75, the ratchet wheel 70 and consequently the rod 66 to which it is secured will be rotated one step.

Current to the electromagnet 74: is supplied through a rheotome or interrupter such as is well known in the art and preferably two or more impulses and consequently two or more rotary steps of the shaft will be required to turn the shaft, the angular distance between two adjacent cam notches ,67. The rotation of the brush selecting rod 66 may be governed in any desired manner but in the embodiment herein disclosed, the amount of this rotation is measured by impulses sent back to the sending mechanism by a starwheel 78 and the pair of contact springs 76 and 77 as previously described. The starwheel has six points which correspond in arrangement to, the cam notches on the several disks 65 and are so located that the springs 7 6 and 77 will be in engagement while the rod is passing from one brush selecting position to the next and will be out of contact when any roller 64 is'located in its respective cam notch.67.

For the purpose of preventing retrograde movement of the auxiliary shaft or rod after each step, apawl 79 is provided. This pawl is carried at the end of an arm 81 -ri-gidlysecured at the upper end of the bar which is pivotally mounted at 82 and has at its lower end a. downwardly and inwardly projecting cam member 83. A spring 84 is provided which tends to withdraw the pawl 79 from engagement with the ratchet wheel 70 such retraction being normally prevented by the engagement of the lower end of the brushv shaft with the cam 83. After the desired brush has been selected, the operat ing shaft is elevated in the samemanner as previously described.

For the purpose of holding the shaft in its elevated position, a pawl 85 mounted on the pivot pin 72 is provided. This pawl is normal y forced in engagement with the ratchet teeth 86 on the shaft 8 by the spring 87, but upon the attraction of the armature 73 by the electromagnet 74, the right angularly projecting finger 88 on the lever 71 is adapted to engage the said pawl and cause the retraction thereof. "When the armature 73 is in its fully attracted position, the pawl 69 at the lower end of the arm 71 engages a pin 89 in such a manner as to cause said awl to be withdrawn from engagement with the ratchet wheel 70. Thus it willbe seen that if at the termination of the conversation an impulse is sent through the electromagnet 71%, it will by the attraction of itsarmature cause the release not only of the brush shaft but also of, the auxiliary brush selecting shaft or rod as well, the pawl 79 being out of engagement with the ratchet wheel 70-.at this time as the brush shaft has been raised away from the cam projection 83. Upon such energization' therefore the brush shaft would be returned to its normal position by gravity or preferably by a return drive as illustrated in Fig.

-1. The brush selecting rod 66would also be returned'to its normal position by the spiral spring 90, one end of which is secured to said rod and the other end of which is fixed to the frame in any desired manner.

Upon the side of each disk 65 at the point normally opposed to its respective latch member 61 is an upwardly and inwardly projecting cam lip 91 which, upon the return to normal of the brush'shaft, is adapted to engage the lower end of its respective latch member and force it to its retracted position.

The amount of elevation ofthe operating shaft is measured by the cooperation of the interrupters 57 and 60 with the brushes 56 and 59 in the manner previously described.

While I have shown but one driving means in the modification shown'in Fig. 6 preferably the three driving means would be used with this modification the same as with the form shown in Fig. 1. Many modifications and minor changes in the invention described will readily suggest themselves to anyone skilled in the art, and therefore I do not propose to limit myself to the exact details of construction herein shown.

I claim:

1. In an automatic telephone'switch, the

combination with a plurality of normally stationary brushes anda motor means for moving a single brush at a time, of a brush selecting device and means for rotating said device to determine the brush to be moved.

2; In an automatic telephoneswitch, a

plurality of normally inactive brushes,

means for causingsaid brushes to travel independently, a brush selecting device and electromagnetic means for selectively rotating said device to render active a predetermined brush.

3.,ln an automatic telephone switch, a plurality of normally inactive loruslies. means for causing said brushes to travel independently, a brush selecting device,

electromagnetic means for. selectively rota.t-'

lot

it inopposite directions, and an electromagnet associated'with each power member tor causing engagement of said supporting member therewith.

rod to seize a brush, and means for therei after longitudinally; moving the same to cause the selected brush to traverse the'ter- I minals of its respective section of said row.

21. In a selector, the combination with a row of terminals divided into sections, a plurality of brushes, one for each section, a

rod, normally inoperative means controlled thereby for interlocking said rod and any of said brushes, and means for controlling" the movement of said rod.

22. In a switch, a series of contacts; brushes for engagingsaid contacts; a sup porting member for said brushes; rotatable power members adjacent to said supporting member for moving it in opposite directions, and means for selectively engaging said supporting member With either of said power members.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 27th day of November A. 1).,

AMOS F.- DIXON.

I'Yitnesses: V

' O. D. M. GUTHE,

W. F. HOFFMAN. 

